Seven major trade unions in the United States took a significant step towards uniting the Palestine solidarity movement and labor by demanding that the United States end all military aid to Israel and that the US help secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
The unions represent a total of six million workers, which is nearly half of all unionized workers in the US. These unions include the American Postal Workers Union, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the National Education Association, Service Employees International Union, the Association of Flight Attendants, the United Auto Workers, and the United Electrical Workers.
The letter expresses that cutting military aid to Israel “is necessary to bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict.”
The letter also articulated that “large numbers of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, continue to be killed, reportedly often with US-manufactured bombs.”
“Rising tensions in the region threaten to ensnare even more innocent civilians in a wider war,” the letter continues. “And the humanitarian crisis deepens by the day, with famine, mass displacement, and destruction of basic infrastructure including schools and hospitals. We have spoken directly to leaders of Palestinian trade unions who told us heart-wrenching stories of the conditions faced by working people in Gaza.”
This letter was released a day before Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is set to address the US Congress, where he will likely be begging for more military aid. A protest of thousands is set to greet him in Washington, DC, and the United Auto Workers are set to join the demonstration.
This step from organized labor represents major domestic pressure put on Biden’s administration to change its policy of unconditional support for Israel. As the 2024 US Presidential elections loom, both establishment parties, Democrat and Republican, are courting the endorsement of these major unions.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who was endorsed by Biden after the aging President formally dropped out of the race, has at least an understanding of this public pressure against Netanyahu. She has refused to preside over or attend the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech to Congress—despite the fact that the Vice President usually presides over joint addresses to both chambers of Congress.